iceturkee

did you actually see the emg report?

when the va did an emg for my carpal tunnel, they also did one for my servical spine. the hands were positive but the neck was negative!!

i can't answer your question andy. but many years ago, i was diagnosed with moderate bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. i had the release surgery on the left but never the right, as the problem resolved itself. that was 2000 and no symptons since. i can also tell you my surgery was great. one thing about the gainesville, fl va is they get doctors from shands rotate through. the resident who did my surgery left me with a neat scar that looks like its part of my love lines. you wouldn't have known i had surgery unless i told you!!

i am 40 percent for my back. my last lumbar mri done 2 years ago, shows 5 herniated discs, a slipped vertabra, an abnormal lordatic curve, spinal and foraminal stenosis, 2 torn discs and much arthritis!!

i tend to agree.

as for an attorney calling you late, he could have been in court and he was running late. he could have been in a conference with a client and ran late. i would expect lawyers to be more late than on time.

i would be cautiously optimistic andy! :-)

is your problem in your neck or lower back or both?

what was the code? can you say? have you tried a google search?

they did speed up a claim of mine for marking homeless all over it. i was about to get evicted and thats what my then dav vso told me to write on the claim. it was approved in 90 days. and i wasn't evicted.

good luck with that andy! :-)

i believe they would.

the only things a normal xray will show are fractures and/or arthritis. an mri will show just about everything!

i believe as long as your discharge is dishonorable, you can't reapply to reenlist. maybe others can weigh in with a recommendation.

was it a general under honorable conditions? thats what i received for being medically discharged. i have had va benefits for almost 30 years. if its dishonorable, you can appeal to the board of military correction for a change. at least, that was the procedure in 1988 when i was discharged. you won't be able to get benefits with a dishonorable.

either range of motion or doctor prescribed bed rest. been dealing with the va for almost 30 years. the examination criteria for back ratings is beyond ridiculous.

always good to question the va because you never know. but i can tell you from person experience that sometimes they do the right thing. :-)

just curious, ever had an mri? if so, what did it say? did the examiner opine its at least as likely as not that it is service connected? don't have the criteria in front of me but i'm thinking 20 percent.

btw, aren't there lawyers who handle va claims that are members of this group? if so, perhaps you should ask one of them about your concerns regarding exam release.

wow 12 plus months? my longest wait was maybe 2 months. but then i started in 1988, have frequent visits and a really thick file. hmm, maybe thats one reason why it might take a month or two to get your file. if you are waiting over a year, i would be complaining to someone high up the food chain!!

last i heard, our little va clinic was serving over 40,000 veterans. it got so bad that another was built on the west side of our county. one major problem with the va is its overloaded. there is usually a shortage of medical personnel and medical clerks, probably, at either all va medical sites or most. that is a major contributing factor as to why some things are slow. the other, obviously, is the lack of concern by most facilities by most veterans. one of the reasons i wanted to become an NSO in my second career (reporter in first) is that i have done fairly well at working the system in my favor. it never happened because the va screwed with my voc rehab request. and again i'm sorry if you all disagree but getting a copy of your exam report before a decision is not a violation of your constitutional rights. you get a copy after a decision is made and you have up to a year to refute a denial. if you don't like it, complain to your news media. complain to your congressman (although, many of them probably won't get anything done. plus i will say this again, after your exam start collecting an alibi file of medical reports and such, in case you need to file a notice of disagreement.

your range of motion is nearly normal other than the 80 degrees where 90 is normal. your others are normal. given that, i think the most you will get is 10 percent and maybe even 0 percent. i'm currently 40 percent for my back.

sorry i misread that. the examiner opined in your favor. that said, i'm concerned about only one entry in your military medical record. i got denied for service connection for my lower back because i had only 2 entries in my medical record. that was before examiners were opining least as likely or least likely. talon might be correct, you may get only 0 percent. what was your range of motion during your c&p?

is back pain well documented in your service medical record? if it isn't, its my guess thats why the examiner opined least likely.

just curious, when you say you ask 7 people and get 7 answers, are any of them the release of information clerk or the c&p clerk, or the patient advocate or the administrator or the chief medical officer?